Making the Short List
by Aang Beckett
Summary: Intro for Crysta Donovan, how she came to Atlantis in the first place. Prequel to Peg. Head Cold.


**Author's Notes~ **Because who the hell is Crysta in Pegasus Head Cold? Well here you go :) _Slight Spoiler for S2 E2 in the first 3 paragraphs._

* * *

"_This _is your _short _list?" Elizabeth questioned Carson, looking at the list of personnel that Carson had asked her for help to pick his med team from. He had to laugh, as this wasn't the first time they'd gone through this routine.

"It's just as he said to you two years ago! They're all far more qualified for this than I am!" Carson gave a sort of concerned smile and pointed out a few ways that some of the personnel on the list had better qualifications than he did. Elizabeth sighed inwardly and looked Carson in the face. She'd have to hope he listened and listened well to what she was about to say next.

"Carson, you are my head surgeon and have the memories of three years on Atlantis already. You are by far the most qualified to do this out of anyone," Elizabeth kept his gaze as she spoke, and then glanced down at the list once more. She skimmed it, noticing one name in particular. Dr. Crysta Donovan. _Carson would notice the one other Scottish person in the pile of personnel files. _Elizabeth thought to herself. A bit further into the list, it was apparent that Carson actually _had_ put thought into his selections.

*********  
Crysta Donovan paced her temporary quarters in the SGC impatiently. She'd been staying there ever since her short time as a lab assistant to Dr. Carson Beckett just before he'd been called to Antarctica, and she wanted to get off the base. When the call came in for medical personnel to join the Atlantis mission, she had been first in line to ask General O'Neill if her name could be put into the list of possible personnel.

The General had started to say that he needed to keep her at Cheyenne Mountain, as she was easily the most qualified of his staff to work with the ATA gene, but her reasoning for going to Atlantis left him at a loss for how to even think of keeping her on Earth.

_"General O'Neill, I understand ye do need a geneticist here on the base to keep up th' work on th' ATA gene, but I could be so much more o' a help to Dr. Beckett on Atlantis b'cause I know his research," She had begun to state her reasons, trying not to appear like a giddy child._

_"I understand that, but does anyone else on this base have your level of knowledge about the Ancient gene and not want to go to Atlantis, Doctor?" General O'Neill was smiling, but Crysta hadn't noticed it. She was too busy trying to list her reasons for going to the lost city._

_"An' besides, if an' when I come back to Earth, I would know far more about the gene and the Ancient technology, an' not have to spend inside o' ten years to figure out what Carson—Dr. Beckett—already knows!" Her already thick accent thickened even more as she got more and more excited. General O'Neill raised a hand to stop her, and she instantly went silent._

_"Dr. Donovan, you are already on the list of possible medical staff for Atlantis. It's up to Dr. Beckett to decide from that list now," General O'Neill's eyes had sparkled as he had watched the pretty, young doctor spring to life. She'd left his office at a fast clip, with an ear-to-ear grin on her face. Oh, how sweet it would be to see Carson again, and to work alongside him now as one of his professional staff._

Crysta remembered this scene as she paced, trying to think what she would say if the call came and she was asked to go to Atlantis. She eyed the phone on the nightstand eagerly, though trying not to get her hopes up that Carson would even recognize the name of his old lab assistant, let alone want her to join him on Atlantis. She did remember what they'd had, how she'd been both his lab assistant and his dear friend. Would he remember her as lovingly as she remembered him?

_RING! RRRING!_

The phone on the nightstand jangled loudly, startling Crysta from her memories. Putting on her best professional Dr. Donovan façade, she picked up the handset and swallowed the last bit of excitement. She didn't want to seem eager, only to have her hopes dashed if Carson didn't remember her or want her to come to the city.

"Hello, Dr. Donovan speakin'," She answered the phone, her hand trembling with excitement that she tried to hold back.

"Crys, what a pleasure to hear yer voice again, Love," The familiar, smooth accent and the use of her old nickname jolted her, and she fumbled to keep from dropping the phone. Nobody had used that nickname for her since… _Carson! It's Carson! Say something, Crysta!_ She tried to gain the same composure she'd had at the start, but failed and had to sit down to untangle her other hand from the phone cord she'd twisted around it.

"Why Carson, I wasna' expecting to hear from ye personally," She winced as she realized how she must sound to the man on the other end.

"I know, Love. Doctor Weir—Elizabeth—asked me ta make the calls m'self. That is to say, you've been chosen to join my team on Atlantis, if ye would…" Carson was also losing his composure; the very idea that he could have his old lab assistant on Atlantis with him had been a relief, she would at least have an idea what he'd been doing, not be learning it all from the beginning.

"I…Carson…it would be a dream come true to work on Atlantis wi' you!" Crysta let the serious Dr. Donovan fade from her voice and shifted back into 'Crys,' the lab assistant from Carson's lab back in Scotland.

"I was hopin' ye would say that, Love. We're goin' to be leavin' on the Daedalus tomorrow mornin'. Meet in th' Gate Room at 0800, an' we'll be beamed aboard once everyone's present. See ye then?" Carson smiled to himself as he heard the rapid breaths on the other end of the phone, and then several dull thumps as objects connected with the bottom of an empty suitcase.

"Aye Lad, I'll be there first thing in the mornin'. I'll see ye then." Crysta's accent thickened a bit in her excitement as she began tossing her uniforms and her favorite lab coat into the open suitcase on the bed. She packed the photos from the nightstand, her personal laptop, and a couple of other choice things. She'd been studying the "Atlantis Expedition Packing List" and knew the exact amount of personal items she was allowed to bring with her.

"Alright then, see ye later," Carson hung up the phone then, and reached for his list to begin the next phone call. Crys would probably be the easiest of the calls he was to make today.

*********  
_"Carson, here are the personnel files for everyone who qualifies to work on the medical team on Atlantis," Dr. Weir had dropped a large pile of beige folders on the briefing room table in front of him. A daunting pile, he'd thought, until he saw the folder on top. Marked on the tab at the top was the name Crysta Donovan. With a start, he'd reached for it and leafed through it, wondering if it could really be her._

_"I'll get right to that list, Lass. Jus' give me a moment to check their files an' I'll make ye a list," Carson had grabbed the stack of folders and vanished off to his personal quarters to make the decision—and to snoop at Crysta's file some more and be sure that it was really her, his favorite of the lab assistants he'd worked with in Scotland. She'd been the only female assistant he had who hadn't gone completely crazy over him._

"Do you need anythin', Lad?" She'd ask each night as she began preparing to leave for the night. She'd walk up behind him and rub his shoulders gently, working her long, lean fingers into the knots that sat like bricks there. She could read how he was feeling with one look into his crystal clear blue eyes, even if he hadn't said anything. Carson had liked that about her, she always knew what he needed but she didn't fawn over him. He'd had assistants who had fallen head over heels for him and spent more time doodling his name in their notepads than taking notes, and he rather preferred Crys's silent acceptance and strong work ethic.

_As he'd sat at the desk, remembering that lab and the various assistants he'd gone through, he pulled a yellow legal tablet from a drawer and began marking names on it for his final list. At the top of the list had been one name, along with a suggestion for her position on Atlantis: Dr. Crysta Donovan – Second in Command to Head of Medicine_

Carson drifted out of the memory, a soft lopsided smile on his face. She'd agreed to work for him. He went about marking off names on the list and making phone calls in a sort of daze, realizing that Crys would not know he was a clone yet. His heart sank a bit when he came to the conclusion that she might react as everyone else had upon finding that he was a clone, and she might not accept him for _what _and _who _he was.

_0800 The Next Morning_

Crys pulled her suitcase off the bed and took off for the Gate Room, grateful that she had SGC badges still and could activate elevators and open blast doors when she needed to. Carson was going to laugh at her when she blew in late, looking as scattered as she had on her first day as his lab assistant in Scotland.

As she skidded into the Gate Room, she nearly collided with someone, looking up just in time to see the crystal clear blue eyes and the slightly spiked up hair. Her heart skipped a beat and she fumbled for words, she never remembered being this scattered around Carson before.

"Hello Love, ye look just as ye did the day I first met ye. Haven't changed a bit," Carson put her at ease immediately, though she thought there might be a hint of sadness in his usually sparkling eyes, which set her to wondering what could be bothering him.

"Why Carson, ye haven't changed much y'self! Though do tell me what's botherin' ye?" She smiled, skipping the pleasantries and picking up where they had left off four years earlier. Instantly, she felt terrible for it when Carson looked away from her and into the crowd of other people who were there to board the Daedalus. Her stomach knotted and she began mentally cursing herself for having assumed that he would still tell her so easily. Her mental tirade was interrupted just then by Carson's voice flooding her ears.

"Love, it's a long story. Ye see, I am not...I am not th' Carson Beckett you worked for all that time ago. I do have his memories and ye shall see 'im back on Atlantis, but I...am a clone, Love," Crys looked up into his crystal clear eyes and instantly, she understood. He remembered her, but this was his first time actually meeting her. She smiled and absently reached to hug him, dropping her bag on the floor. He returned her embrace warmly, if a bit tentatively.

"It's alright, Love," Crys dropped all the professional sound from her voice and let herself speak as a friend, "Ye are just as much Carson as he is an' I will care as much for ye as I always did for 'im."

There was a flash of bright blue light as the pair found themselves and their belongings standing in one of the loading bays of the Daedalus. With one last shared smile, they followed the rest of the crowd to be assigned to their sleeping quarters for the duration of the trip.

_Carson would never forget the feeling of peace and happiness that had welled up in his heart when Crys had told him that she cared and that he was as much Carson as his double back on Atlantis. She didn't see him as a clone, she saw him as her Carson, just as she saw the original Carson Beckett._

_Crysta would never forget that moment either, the moment that she'd been able to offer Carson something that nobody else had been able to. She'd seen the pain in his eyes as he explained that he was a clone, but she could see past that fact and read his heart and soul as she always had. All he had wanted was acceptance and she had been able to give it._


End file.
